Our teams were really great. For the women it was a first place performance. For the men it was a second place finish. Both of the teams had at least one set of perfect scores backing them up. Corey and Kendall were 2 sets of perfects. That told me that the other team were Players. There was no way you could find multiple NPCs that could do anything that perfectly. There would be no point to having them in the game. Either they were Devils, or they found a weird exploit together. It was the only explanation that made sense. Riley was in the lead of the all-round competition. Alice, the fourth team member on Riley's side did not make it. She was frustrated. Liam squeaked by in eighth place. He was on to the finals. He was really hype about it. Next up were the individual events. Ashton did Floor and Still Rings. Kendall was on Vault and Pommel Horse. Corey was doing both bar events for the tournament. All of them came in second place even with perfect scores. There was a preferential bias for those who went on the first day. That was more than fine for me. Took the eyes off.
Vince also qualified for the vault event. He came in seventh place. Olivia was feeling the momentum during her floor routine. She had a confident fifth place finish. At the end of the day, we had a lot to be cheerful for. All of the members of they gym were going to the finals in at least one event. Some, namely my boys, were going for 3 events. The finals were in 2 days from now. I had everyone in my household rest the next day. I did not want them to get into any trouble like Cameron. The last thing we needed was for someone to fuck up and cause a problem where they could not compete. Sunny and Lucy agreed to help by actually being active in their lives. Since they all were starved for affection from their PEP parents, they were enraptured by even the hint that they could bond by doing something. Sunny began to read them a long novel. Lucy then took over by providing paper and crayons form the hotel's "child corner" section. It was juvenile to me, but they were into it. When the other team members asked them for something, they were shooed away or asked to join in their fun.
Going to the venue for the finals was a special feeling. Everyone's parents were encouraging their children. Sunny and Lucy smiled at them and said some nice things too. I told them to the night before. Everyone was ready to do their best. There were no Players in the Women's division. Riley's team one in a landslide. The boys team got silver on the podium. Liam and Vince simply could not compete with a triple perfect. For a couple of kids for a rough place like Micropolis, that was good enough though. They were smiling and waving like they won the event. Riley took gold again in the all-round. Liam did not make it to the podium. Now it was an all-out fight for the top medals in the individual competitions. Vince never had a chance. All 4 Players and my boys were in each event. There were tons of redos for every event. None of them wanted to share the gold medal with my sons. Floor and the Pommel Horse were the first 2 events. They kept going until the Players got tired and got deducted tenths of a point for minor infractions. In the end, Ashton and Kendall took their first golds.
Rings was next. That meant that it was Ashton's turn again. Before he could go, one of the Players "accidentally" splashed him with salt water. They saw right through him and he was banned for the rest of the competition for the unsportsman like behavior. That meant there were 3 Players left to go through. At the end, there were more redos. Ashton came out on top once again. For the Vault, Vince did his best. It was nowhere near perfect though. I still cheered for him along with the rest of the gym. It was a big team effort. Kendall was on his second event. The Players hated him. So much so that 2 of them made tiny slip ups. That was already a crucial flaw in their performance. I already knew Kendall had this in the bag. He did his perfectly all the way through. Out of the 4, there were now a big difference in the scores. The one that tied for first agreed to split the gold. That left the next big Player with the bronze medal. The last 2 events were for Corey to shine. The Players had long since given up on trying to beat them. Once they tied, they accepted it and split the gold. Fine with us.
